Chris Hemsworth recently sat in on drums with Ed Sheeran’s band, but first he tapped fellow Aussie Ben Gordon, from metalcore stalwarts Parkway Drive, to teach him how to play.
The Avengers star’s drum lessons will be part of the next episode of Hemsworth’s NatGeo/Disney+ series, Limitless: Live Better Now, which follows the actor traversing six countries while doing challenges to push himself physically and mentally.
Speaking with Australia’s Today Extra, Gordon explained that he and Hemsworth have been friends for some time, but none of his talent had worn off on the actor before now. “It was good fun, actually,” Gordon said. “I’ve been friends with Chris for about seven, eight years now. We met from a mutual friend when he moved to Byron [Bay], and we’ve been mates ever since.”
“So when he got challenged by Ed Sheeran to learn the drums for Limitless, I guess I was the obvious choice to call because, I guess, I’m his only friend who’s a professional drummer. So he gave me a call and asked if I would help out,” Gordon joked, later adding that he initially expected his role to be off-camera, but ultimately it ended up being a crucial part of the episode.
When asked if Hemsworth was any good at drumming, Gordon quickly replied, “When he first came to me, he was really bad.” He then added, “I have a lot of admiration for him because the whole premise of the episode was him finding something that he wasn’t gifted at, which was quite hard because he’s very talented in many areas, and diving into something that he finds uncomfortable.”
“No one in the world is good at everything, even Chris Hemsworth, so he found something he’s not good at, which was the drums,” Gordon continued. “He was a complete novice. He had no idea about it. He had no rhythm. But that was kind of the challenge, and that’s what makes the episode fun.”
After practicing for months, Hemsworth hopped behind the drum kit and played with Sheeran to 70,000 fans in Bucharest. The episode airs tomorrow, Friday, August 15, on Disney+ and Hulu. It will be broadcast Aug. 25 on National Geographic.
The post Chris Hemsworth Asked Parkway Drive’s Drummer To Give Him Drum Lessons So He Could Play With Ed Sheeran appeared first on VICE.
